Estancia Fisherwoman: Back In Business

Hope shines anew in Margielyn Gallardo's eyes. 

Margielyn with some freshly-steamed crabs

Crabs ready for steaming.

Margielyn's two new boats.

A dream house  damaged by Yolanda.

Seven years ago, Margielyn Gallardo and her husband began building their dream house. It was a concrete one-story building that sat on the western tip of Loguingot Island, right on the shore of this island barangay of Estancia, Iloilo. It had a tiled floor, a small terrace, and two bedrooms -- very different from the houses they had both grown up in.  From here Margielyn could watch the sunset, or look out over the water as her family's fishing boats came in with fresh catches of crab and fish.

Over the past 23 years, as their brood of children grew to seven, the Gallardos also built up their fishing livelihood until they had a fleet of 11 boats, each of which provided jobs for two or three nephews or neighbors. Part of the catch was brought to a  processing company where the crab meat was picked out of the shells, pasteurized, and exported.  

Then on November 8, 2013, Supertyphoon Yolanda slammed into Estancia, causing a storm surge and hurling a huge boat against the house.

The next day Margielyn found that she had no house. No boats.  Not even any fishing equipment. No nets.  No crab cages. "Wala kaming naisalba,' she states simply.

Margielyn is one of 36 members of the CCT Savings and Credit Cooperative who live and work on Loguingot Island.  Most of them are fisher folk. Others earn a living ferrying passengers across the water from the mainland.

 The island is home to about 300 families all of whom suffered  from Yolanda's pummeling.

Today Margielyn and her family have gone back to living in a hut with bamboo walls and a grass roof.  She may not be allowed to rebuild over what's left of her dream house. But still, things are looking good for Margielyn.  She recently received a loan of P70,000 from CCT and from the Bread from Heaven Christian Fellowship in Las Pinas City.  The church has a special interest in helping Estancia and nearby communities  rebuild their homes and livelihoods.

With this loan, Margielyn bought two motorized fishing boats and several dozen new crab cages. She is back in business, catching crabs and steaming them whole. (The crabs are then brought to the mainland and soon appear in restaurants  as crabmeat omelette or  sizzling crabmeat.)

And she can smile with hope again. 

Two months after Yolanda hit Loguingot Island, half of  the hull of a boat hurled by the super typhoon against the Gallardo house still lies on the shore.  Also shown is what's left of  Margielyn's kitchen.